Sheet material dispensing machine



March 22, 1955 R. H. ROSAUER 2,704,576

SHEET MATERIAL DISPENSING MACHINE Filed Dec. 15, 1952 2 SheetsSheet l FIG-l 45 INVENTOR.

Roswell H. Rosauer March 22, 1955 R- H. ROSAUER SHEET MATERIAL DISPENSING MACHINE Filed Dec. 15, 1952 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INI'E1\'TOR. Roswell H. Rosauer v/Mw United States Patent SHEET MATERIAL DISPENSING MACHINE Roswell H. Rosauer, Spokane, Wash.

Application December 15, 1952, Serial No. 325,940

3 Claims. (Cl. 164-42) This invention relates to a sheet material dispensing machine and is a continuation in part of my forfeited application, Serial No. 104,168, filed July 12, 1949, and entitled Wrapping Paper Dispensing Machine.

It is one object of the invention to provide a machine by means of which sheets of wrapping paper or the like may be delivered from a roll for use in stores by wrappers.

Another object of the invention is to provide a dispensing machine so constructed that it may be set to deliver sheets of wrapping material of predetermined length.

Another object of the invention is to provide a paper dispensing machine so constructed that sheets of paper of various lengths may be singularly delivered or sheets of a predetermined length successively delivered.

Another object of the invention is to so construct the machine that a roll of wrapping material may be mounted under a counter and the sheets of material delivered onto a table or shelf at the front of the machine.

Another object of the invention is to provide a sheet material dispensing machine which is simple in construction and very efiicient in operation.

With these and other objects in view, the improved wrapping material dispensing machine consists of a special construction and arrangement of parts illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the improved dispensing machine;

Figure 2 is a fragmentary plan view of the machine with the casing removed;

Figure 3 is a view of the mechanism within the easing in side elevation and upon an enlarged scale;

Figure 4 is a fragmentary vertical cross section taken through the feed rollers and cutter bar;

Figure 5 is a fragmentary view in side elevation of the side opposed to that of Figure 3;

Figure 6 is a fragmentary vertical cross section taken through the idler roller; and

Figure 7 is a view in elevation of the detachable cutting teeth.

The improved sheet material dispensing machine has been shown mounted in conjunction with a counter or work table 1 under which a roll of paper 2 is supported by spaced brackets, one of which is shown at 3, but it will be understood that the dispenser could be mounted upon the top of a stand having legs which would provide a portable dispenser movable from one place to another for use.

The dispenser is provided with a casing 4 which is formed of metal or other suitable material and is open at its bottom. Its front wall 5 is cut to form an opening 6 through which extends a shelf or table 7 which projects forwardly from the casing. The casing 4 is shown only in Figure 1 as it functions merely as a protector for the device and otherwise is not necessary to its operation.

The inner side edge 8 of the shelf is arcuate transversely, as shown in Figure 4, so that paper will readily move onto the shelf, and in forwardly spaced relation to this curved side edge face the shelf is formed with a longitudinally extending slot 9. A paper guide 10, which is formed of sheet metal, is secured at its lower end to ears 11 projecting from the side walls 12 and 13 which are mounted vertically in spaced relation at opposite sides of the casing, and the upper portion of 'ice the guide is bent forwardly to form a horizontally extending lip 14 which overlaps the inner or rear side edge portion of the shelf 7 in slightly upwardly spaced relation thereto. Adjacent the forward edge of the 5 horizontal lip 14, the guide is provided with a plurality of apertures indicated in Figure 4 by the numeral 15, the use of which will be described hereafter. An elongated opening or slot, or a multiplicity of small openings or slots, are formed in the paper guide as at 16 through the curved portion thereof at the rear of the lip 14, so that the powered roller 17 and the bank of idler rollers 18 may have contact with each other. This is shown in Figures 2 and 4. Referring to these figures, it will be seen that the paper 2, which passes upwardly from the roll and into the casing, may be disposed against the front surface of the vertical guide 10 and be engaged between rollers 17 and 18 so that it will be fed forwardly under the lip 14 and onto the shelf or table 7.

The rollers are carried by shafts 19 and 20 and it will be understood that the powered roller 17 may be one continuous roller similar to the platen on a typewriter or it may be a succession of rollers, each secured to the shaft 19.

The idler roller 18 comprises a bank of individually bearinged rollers 21, as indicated in Figure 6, which have elongated sleeves 22 extending from each roller in opposite directions, thus spacing the rollers and permitting individual rotation thereof.

The powered roller shaft 19 is bearinged in the side walls 12 and 13 and extends through each of these walls. The extension of shaft 19 passing through side wall 13 is provided with a power transmission means such as a belt and pulley combination, indicated in general by the numeral 23, the belt being trained about a pulley 24 secured to the shaft of electric motor 25. Thus it will be seen that when the motor 25 is energized, powered roller 17 is rotated and with idler roller 18 biased toward the powered roller the paper 2 disposed between the rollers is advanced onto the shelf or table 7.

The shaft 20 of idler roller 18 has its ends carried in parallel bars 26 which are pivotally secured at 27 forwardly of shaft 20 to the side walls 12 and 13. Resilient means, such as springs 28, bias the bars downwardly about pivot 27 to urge idler roller 18 toward powered roller 17. The bars 26 have portions 29 extending forwardly from the pivot points 27 and downward pressure on these forwardly extending portions will cause the bars to pivot at 27 and raise roller 18 out of engagement with the paper 2 trained over powered roller 17, as indicated in Figure 4.

In order to cut sheets of paper from the roll, I have provided a cutter bar 30 which carries a serrated toothed cutting blade 31 extending transversely of the movement of the paper and secured to an angle-shaped portion 32 of the cutter bar 30. The portion 32 is secured at its ends to inwardly disposed ears 33 carried by opposed arms 34, which together with the portion 32 form a yoke pivoted adjacent the rear edges of the side walls 12 and 13 by means of bolts 35. Opposed to the ears 33 the arms 34 are provided with lips 36 which carry anchor bolts 37 adapted to secure the upper ends of a pair of tension springs 38, the lower ends being secured at 39 to the side walls 12 and 13. It will thus be seen that the yoke may be tilted vertically about its pivot 35, thus raising cutter bar 30 and permitting paper to be advanced under the blade 31, and when the yoke is released, the cutter bar 30 descends and the blade 31 severs the extended sheet and passes downwardly into the slot 9.

The side walls 12 and 13 are rigidly supported by tie rods 40 which extend parallel and are secured between the two walls.

Inspection of Figure 5 will show that on the outer face of side wall 13 I have provided a suitable powered roller stop for the shaft 19 which comprises an involute stop 41 and an upwardly biased plunger 42, which is vertically reciprocable through spaced eyes or bearings 43 carried by the side wall 13. The upper end of the plunger 42 is provided with a head 44 disposed in position to be struck by arm 34 of the yoke, and when the yoke descends cutting the paper, arm 34 depresses the plunger 42 and powered roller 17 coasts until the involute stop 41 strikes the plunger, thus always stopping the roller in the same relative position.

It will be noted that the cutting blade 31 is secured to the cutting bar by means of stub bolts 45 and, therefore, the bar may be replaced or removed and sharpened when found necessary.

Inspection of Figure 4 will show that the cutter bar 30 is provided with set bolts 46 which are threadedly engaged through the cutter bar and disposed to strike the forward end portion 29 of bars 26. Thus when the cutter bar 30 is descending to cut the paper 2, the idler roller 18 is lifted from contact with the paper trained over roller 17. This figure also will show that the cutter bar is provided with a plurality of spring loaded feet 47 disposed to be aligned with the holes 15 in lip 14, and as the cutter bar descends the feet 47 strike the paper 2 through the apertures 15, thus holding the paper while the blade 31 cuts the sheet therefrom.

To lift the yoke and actuate the dispensing machine, I have provided a rock shaft 48 which is bearinged in the side walls 12 and 13 and extends beyond the side walls a distance sufiicient to hold cams 49, which, as seen in Figure 3, are circumferential for the greater portion of their dimensions and yet have flat side faces 50 disposed upwardly to contact the wear plates 51 secured to the arms 34. On the end of shaft 48 extending through side wall 12 I have provided an arm 52 which has a pin 53 extending therefrom in axial offset relation relative to rock shaft 48, thus forming a crank for shaft 48. A treadle bar, indicated in general by the numeral 54, is provided with a link 55 which is movable vertically and is provided with an elongated slot 56 through which the pin 53 extends. As an operator depresses the treadle bar 54 by stepping on the foot lever 57, the link 55 is lowered, thus turning shaft 48 counterclockwise, as viewed in Figure 3, by means of the arm 52, and in so doing earns 49 rotate and bear against wear plates 51 thus tilting the yoke upwardly and lifting cutter bar 30 above the shelf 7.

The lower end of link 55 is pivotally secure to a cross bar 58 which is pivoted at its extreme opposed end 59 to the side wall 12, and intermediate the link 55 and the end 59 a vertically shiftable adjusting bar 60 is pivotally secured. On the end of cross bar 58 opposed to end 59 is a finger 61 which engages the actuating plunger 62 of an off-on switch 63. When the plunger is depressed, as shown in Figure 3, the switch is closed making electrical connection therethrough. A second switch 64 has its plunger 65 actuated by movement of arm 34 and when its plunger 65 is depressed, the switch 64 is opened breaking electrical connection therethrough. Therefore, when treadle bar 54 is depressed, the finger 61 is withdrawn from switch 63 opening the switch, and simultaneously rock shaft 48 is rotated and earns 49 are caused to lift arms 34, at which time plunger 65 is permitted to raise, closing switch 64. However, connection to the motor 25 is broken through switch 63 and the dispenser is not energized until such time as the operator removes his foot from lever 57, whereupon spring 66 (Figure 1) will cause bar 60 to raise permitting finger 61 to depress plunger 62 of switch 63 and close the circuit energizing motor 25, whereupon powered roller 17 is rotated advancing paper 2 between the rollers 17 and 18.

Inspection of Figure 3 will reveal that a portion of the arcuate edge of cam 49 is provided with ratchet teeth as at 67 and a dog 68 having a tooth 69 at its lower end engages with the ratchet teeth 67. The dog 68 at its upper end is pivoted upon a pin 70 projecting from the end of shaft 19 in eccentric relation thereto. An expansion spring 71 is anchored at 72 by means of a bracket 73 to the end wall 12 and biases dog 68 toward ratchet teeth 67 to maintain its tooth 69 in engagement'therewith. However, as shaft 19 rotates, the eccentricity of pin 70 causes the dog to reciprocate, thus moving the tooth 69 upwardly the distance of one ratchet tooth 67 and downwardly an equal distance, causing each rotation of shaft 19 to rotate shaft 48 in a clockwise direction the distance of one ratchet tooth 67. It will thus be seen that the earns 49 will be rotated sufliciently in a given length of time to permit arms 34 to drop by means of tension springs 38 as the earns 49 are rotated disposing their fiat portions 50 upwardly. To enable the cam 49 to be rotated counterclockwise, it is necessary that the dog tooth 69 be re moved from the ratchet 67 as the treadle bar 54 is lowered, and for this purpose I have provided a vertical cam link 74 which is secured for vertical movement by means of a guide secured at 75 to a mounting bar 76 outwardly spaced from end wall 12 and releasably carried by bosses 77 formed on the end wall 12. An angular slot 78 forms a cam which cooperates with a pin 79 carried by the dog 68 and as the cam link 74 moves downwardly dog 68 is pivoted away from ratchet teeth 67 permitting free movement of rock shaft 48.

By limiting the degree of counterclockwise rotation of rock shaft 48, it is possible to predetermine the exact length of paper to be dispensed by the machine. To accomplish this I have provided a stop plate 88 which is carried on a shaft 81 bearing at one end in the end wall 12 and mounting bar 76, and the outer end of the shaft 81 is provided with a pointer 82 which cooperates with a segmental indicator 83 to show the position of stop plate 80. Stop plate is provided with a plurality of grooves 84 and these may be disposed in the path of pin 53, which is wedge-shaped, to limit the downward movement of the treadle bar 54 at the position where pin 53 strikes stop plate 80. Thus it will be seen that each rotation of powered roller 17 will rotate shaft 48 clockwise a predetermined distance, and if the counterclockwise rotation in setting the machine is predetermined, the length of paper dispensed by roller 17 will be accurately determined by the operator before the machine is energized.

Because of the speed of operation I have found that the roll of paper 2 tends to coast after the machine stops and thus the paper becomes loose between the roll and the powered roller 17, and on subsequent operations the powered roller is apt to tear the paper when it endeavors to start the heavy roll 2 after having taken up the slack in the paper. Therefore, I have devised a simple but very effective brake for the roll of paper 2, which comprises securing a pulley 85 to one end of the paper roll shaft 86 upon which the roll 2 is securely fastened, passing a rubber or other friction belt 87 about the pulley 85 and securing a weight 88 to the belt. Thus as the roll advances, pulley 85 frictionally engages the belt 87 and tends to lift weight 88. When the weight exceeds the friction available, the belt slips and when the pull on the paper ceases, the weight is lowered reversing the roll until the paper from the roll to the roller 17 is taut.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. A paper dispensing machine comprising a frame having side walls, upper and lower feed rollers in said frame extending transversely thereof, the upper roller being carried by bars extending transversely of the rollers and pivotally mounted forwardly of the roller for tilting movement toward and away from the lower roller, springs urging rear ends of said bars downwardly and yieldably holding the upper roller in engagement with the lower roller, a shelf projecting forwardly from said rollers in substantially the plane of contacting portions of the rollers, a yoke straddling said frame and having a cross bar disposed in front of the rollers and over the shelf and having rearwardly extending arms at its ends pivoted to the side walls, a cutter carried by the cross bar and extending downwardly along the lower edge thereof, spring means urging the yoke downwardly to ward said shelf to a cutting position, set bolts carried by cross bar in position for engaging front ends of the bars carrying the upper roller and tilting the bars to raise the upper roller as the yoke moves downwardly, a rock shaft rotatably mounted transversely of the frame and disposed under the yoke, cams carried by the rock shaft, one cam having ratchet teeth, a pin projecting from the lower roller eccentric thereto, a dog pivoted upon said pin and extending downwardly therefrom and yieldably held in position for engaging the ratchet teeth and turning the cams in a direction to release the yoke during rotation of the lower roller, a motor, means for transmitting rotary motion from the motor to the lower roller, 21 treadle bar mounted for vertical sliding movement at one end of said frame and formed with a longitudinal slot, a lever carried by said rock shaft and carrying a pin passing through the slot of the treadle bar to cause downward movement of the lever and turning of the rock shaft when the treadle bar is depressed, a stop pivotally mounted and extending across the treadle bar and formed with abutment teeth selectively moved into position for engagement by the pin to limit downward movement of the lever by pivoted movement of the stop,

a switch having an upwardly extending operating plunger, one said pivotally mounted arm resting upon the upper end of the plunger when in the lowered position to open the switch, said treadle bar including a cross bar, means connecting the cross bar with the dog and the last mentioned lever to move the dog away from the ratchet teeth, and a second switch having an operating plunger for opening the switch when the treadle bar is depressed.

2. A paper dispensing machine comprising a casing having a transversely extending opening at its front, a table extending horizontally out of the casing through the front opening thereof, vertical side walls in said casing, a motor, upper and lower rollers in said casing extending transversely of the casing between said walls for feeding paper forwardly across said table, the lower roller being rotatably supported by the walls and constituting a drive roller rotated from the motor, bars pivoted to said walls and rotatably supporting the upper roller as an idler roller, springs urging rear ends of the bars downwardly and yieldably holding the upper roller in contact with the lower roller, a yoke having a cutter bar extending transversely of the casing over the table and side arms extending rearwardly from the cutter bar and pivoted at their rear ends to the walls, spring means urging the yoke downwardly to a cutting position, a rock shaft rotatably supported back of the lower roller by said walls, cams carried by said rock shaft and disposed under the side arms of the yoke and engaged thereby, one of said cams being provided with teeth along its periphery, a dog pivoted eccentric to the drive roller and yieldably held in position for engaging teeth upon the last mentioned cam for turning the cams and the rock shaft and thereby releasing the yoke during rotation of the drive roller, the cutter bar having means for engaging front ends of said bars and tilting the bars vertically to raise the upper roller during downward movement of the yoke and the cutter bar in a cutting operation, a lever carried by said rock shaft and projecting rearwardly therefrom, a treadle bar slidable vertically and yieldably held raised, a stop for limiting downward movement of said lever mounted under the lever and movable to adjusted positions, a switch having an upwardly extending actuating plunger, depressible by one said arm to an open position, said treadle bar including a cross bar, and means connecting the cross bar with the dog and the last mentioned lever for moving the dog away from the toothed cam and drawing the lever downwardly to close the switch by lifting the yoke when the treadle bar is depressed.

3. A sheet material dispensing machine comprising a supporting frame, a downwardly biased yoke pivotally carried by the frame for vertical tilting movement and having a cutter bar and support arms therefor, powered rollers carried by the frame and disposed to advance a sheet under said cutter bar when in the raised position, cams carried by the frame and disposed to contact the arms of said yoke and shift said yoke upwardly, manually operated means for rotating said cams to raise said cutter bar, means associated with said yoke to energize said rollers when the yoke is in the raised position, means associated with said rollers whereby the cams are rotated toward a releasing position in ratio to the revolutions of said rollers, and selective means limiting the degree of rotation of said cams in the yoke lifting direction, whereby the cut length of material may be predetermined.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 854,706 Eden May 21, 1907 1,058,958 Frohn Apr. 15, 1913 1,298,013 Crowe Mar. 25, 1919 1,421,354 Littell June 27, 1922 1,652,715 Hanscom Dec. 13, 1927 1,978,303 Guett Oct. 23, 1934 2,320,659 Sahlin June 1, 1943 

